Corbyn at odds with party heavyweights over timing of election

Corbyn’s declaration he is prepared to fight October election clashes with view of shadow Brexit secretary

JEREMY CORBYN is still prepared to back an election on Oct 15, his spokesman insisted yesterday, in a move that threatens to put the Labour leader on a collision course with senior allies.

Despite whipping his MPS to abstain on a snap poll last night, Mr Corbyn has signalled that he is ready to support Boris Johnson’s demands – but only once no deal has been ruled out by law.

Concerned that he will be accused of cowardice, the Labour leader said he was prepared to go the country after legislation to delay Brexit by three months has been ratified by Parliament.

Yesterday, his spokesman confirmed that once the so-called Benn Bill receives royal assent, Labour will commit to an election at the “earliest opportunity”, adding that a poll in midoctober remained on the cards.

However, his stance appeared to contradict earlier statements from Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, who suggested that an October election was off the table.

Drawing up the dividing lines shortly after 8am, Sir Keir said that having seized control in Parliament, Labour was not “going to hand it back” to Mr Johnson in “what is very obviously a trap”.

He also indicated Labour could try to form an alternative government by toppling Mr Johnson in a confidence vote, telling the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 that it “may well be” pref

erable to an election. Later, he went further, telling a special meeting of Labour MPS that they should not countenance backing a poll before Oct 19, when Mr Johnson will be required by law to ask Brussels for a Brexit extension until Jan 31.

By refusing to contest an election before November, Labour would make it impossible for Mr Johnson to deliver on his “do or die” pledge of taking Britain out of the EU by Hallowe’en.

It would also neutralise the risk of Mr Johnson returning to Parliament with a majority, which he could then use to repeal the legislation and keep a no-deal Brexit in play. “Put simply, the

Bill has to be implemented, not just passed, before a general election,” Sir Keir reportedly told MPS.

His comments were echoed by Paul Sweeney, the shadow Scotland minister, who said it was vital the Government was “forced to secure an Article 50 extension” before an election received approval.

“The priority has to be to kill off no deal and destroy Johnson first,” he said.

They were joined by Clive Lewis, a shadow Treasury minister, who told the BBC: “My counsel is that we should be cautious, that we should wait to see that the European Council has agreed that extension, see it in writing, then bring that general election on.” But John Mcdonnell, the shadow chancellor, struck a more equivocal tone, telling reporters that Labour was exploring a “range of options”.

“We want to get the legislation secure [with] royal assent but we are not going to be tricked or conned by Johnson,” he said.

“The range of options that Keir and the others are looking at include whether is it a matter of triggering an election after the royal assent and will that give us the security, so we are checking with the lawyers on that. Or is it implementation – and again we are checking the law on that.”

Sir Keir’s stance was approved “unanimously” according to MPS at the meeting, with Ben Bradshaw declaring that “Labour MPS won’t vote for a prenovember election”.

Wes Streeting, MP for Ilford North, said: “The Labour Party wants nothing more than the opportunity to boot the Tories out at a general election, except preventing the UK from crashing out of the EU with no deal. Our stance, in common with other opposition parties, is the principled and patriotic position, putting the national interest above party politics”.

When asked about Sir Keir’s intervention, Mr Corbyn’s spokesman distanced himself from the remarks, insisting that Labour continued to “support an early general election”.

He said: “Jeremy has made clear the Bill going to Parliament today needs to pass its stages and needs to have royal assent. Then, once we’re confident they can’t crash out on Oct 31 … we will support a general election.”

He added that Labour was now exploring a number of mechanisms to prevent Mr Johnson from retrospectively changing the date for a poll, including the possibility of amending the legislation required to call an early election.

However, it was unclear whether this would be permitted under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act.

Another option, as reported in today’s Daily Telegraph, would be to deny Mr Johnson support for an election, leaving him short of the two-thirds majority he needs, forcing him to resort to “plan B”.

This would see the Government try to override the Act with new legislation requiring a simple majority for an election to be approved, which could then be amended by opposition MPS to fix the date of an election by law.

“What we’re trying to prevent is the use of any parliamentary procedure or prerogative powers or arrangements in relation to the date of the election to force through a no-deal Brexit on Oct 31,” the spokesman added.

Should they fail to secure the guarantees necessary to back an election, Labour could table a confidence vote to try to seize control, block no deal, and then schedule a poll on its own terms.

“We are potentially in that zone,” he said.